Latin American Independence Monday, December 31, 2018
Latin America
Social Classes Peninsulares Creoles Mestizos Mulattos & slaves Smallest percentage, highest political positions Wealthy Spanish-born citizens Creoles Spaniards born in Latin America Could not hold political office Could join army Mestizos Mixture of European and Indian Mulattos & slaves Mixture of European and African 1 2 3 4
Haiti Western part of Hispaniola Inspired by the American Revolution French Colony Saint-Dominique (French) Santo Domingo (Spanish) Large slave population, they were treated brutally, and lived in poor conditions
Haiti
1791 100,000 slaves revolted Toussaint L’Ouverture soon became their leader 1801 He gained control of the island and freed all the enslaved Africans
1802 1804 France sent troops to capture Toussaint He was sent to a French prison where he died French were unsuccessful in stopping the rebellion 1804 Haiti declared its independence from France Only successful slave revolt in history
Creoles Educated in Europe & exposed to Enlightenment ideas They led the majority of independence movements Napoleon’s attempts to conquer nations and extend control over its colonies scared creoles
Nationalistic feelings made people desire self-rule Creoles and lower classes began fighting for rights and equality Enlightenment ideas such as Locke’s idea of consent of the governed along with nationalistic ideas justify rebellion against Spain
Mexico Movement led by mestizos at first Father Miguel Hidalgo called for rebellion and a crowd marched toward Mexico City They were defeated in 1811 by the upper classes who feared losing power
They tried again 4 years later and failed In 1821,creoloes afraid of losing their power, declared their independence from Spain
1823, nations of Central America declare their independence from Mexico Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica
South America Simon Bolivar – Creole general led the movement 1811 - Began in Venezuela then moved to Colombia and Ecuador He met Jose de San Martin who had freed Chile Together they liberated Peru He dreamed of uniting the colonies into a single country Gran Colombia lasted for a short time The countries soon separated
Gran Colombia
South America